Peter Bibby laces his punk-infused music with an element of brooding malevolent humour in his new track ‘Fun Guy’. With a driving anarchic onslaught reminiscent of The Cramps, ‘Fun Guy’ launches like a rocket with a pulsing bass and a cataclysm of guitars with a circular riff and a howl of feedback hovering at the fringes. It’s a rampant slice of glam rock punk that positively rattles with cathartic attitude and an air of bacchanalian excess. Despite his claims of no longer engaging in a litany of dodgy fun activities, I have a suspicion that Bibby doth protest too much.
Or maybe not. Bibby says of the track:
I was just really over all the silliness and getting wasted and all dumb behaviour that is considered ‘fun’. A lot of the songs on the album are the result of situations where I was drunk or dealing with the drama that comes from it all. It suggests a period of change, and honing in on the shitty situations which have inspired it.
It’s a fun song about quitting fun. A bit gross, a bit self deprecative, a bit of a banger. Rather than a drum loop, we just went full drum machine with this one, taking a few hints from Suicide’s first album. We laid this whole thing down in a few hours on my first day in the studio, setting the tone for a disgustingly productive few weeks.
There is an undeniable hint of regret in this holy apotheosis. The cartoon video accompanying the track is the newly sainted figure of Bibby engaging in wholesome exercise with a pained expression and a loving devotion to a pictured muscleman. It’s hilarious and as cheeky as the song:
This is irreverent fun with the impact of an out of control freight train. You can get the single here.
Bibby’s new album ‘Drama King’ is out May 31 on Spinning Top Records and Bibby is part of the same management stable as luminaries Tame Impala and Pond.
‘Drama King’ was produced by first-time collaborator Dan Luscombe, whose work with fellow Aussie breakouts The Drones and Amyl and the Sniffers convinced Bibby he’d be in safe hands. Bibby later travelled to Los Angeles to mix the album with White Denim’s Josh Block, a frequent collaborator with Leon Bridges.
It was the first time I’d worked with a producer, and I prepared for it knowing that my songs were going to get chopped up and shortened. I’m glad I did, because for the most part, Dan was like, oh, you’ve already solved every problem I had with these. He was completely underselling himself, because he shaped and sculpted every song on the record into a far more beautiful and articulate thing than I could have on my own.
Where Dan shaped and sculpted the songs into superior arrangements, Josh made them sound better than I ever thought they could sound.
‘Drama King’ is available to pre-order here.
Peter Bibby recently announced the Drama King Australian tour, which will see Bibby’s Big Horse band saddle up for a 4 night residency at the Buffalo Club in Fremantle and then onto shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Full tour details below. I have a strange feeling that the fun guy will make an appearance.
Thu 02 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA
Thu 09 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA
Thu 23 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA
Thu 30 May – Buffalo Club – Fremantle, WA
‘Drama King’ Tour
Thursday, 20 June – The Valley Loft – Brisbane, QLD
Friday, 21 June – Mary’s Underground – Sydney, NSW
Saturday, 22 June – Howler, Melbourne – VIC
Saturday 29 June – Jive – Adelaide, SA.
For more information visit here
Feature Photograph: Natalie Hewitt
